


Let me love you

by ToTheStarsWriting



Series: Hiding Under my Skin [5]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec Lightwood Loves Magnus Bane, All of the above - Freeform, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Confident Magnus Bane, F/F, Fluff, I don't know, I'm Bad At Tagging, Insecure Alec Lightwood, Literal Sleeping Together, Loss of Control, Magnus Bane Loves Alec Lightwood, Self-Esteem Issues, Smut, but i tried, figurative sleeping together too, magic sex, mentions of discrimination, not the best, soft angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:47:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25005661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToTheStarsWriting/pseuds/ToTheStarsWriting
Summary: After the events at the Institute, and everything that led up to it, Magnus and Alec head home to get some rest and reconnect before they have to face the world once more.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Series: Hiding Under my Skin [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1697266
Comments: 7
Kudos: 125





	Let me love you

Alec hadn’t been sure what to expect once she and Magnus got back to the loft. Or even how she’d feel. If that sense of safety the loft had always brought her would still be there or not.

The last time they’d been here together had been so very different. They’d shared a bed, a fact which Alec wanted to repeat many, many times. But it’d all been marred by the arrival of Shadowhunters and Alec’s subsequent arrest. Since then, they’d only had a chance to interact in Alec’s cell, and she’d been… well, Magnus had had a chance to see the worst parts of her. The parts Alec hadn’t wanted anyone else to see.

Thinking about that now left Alec feeling off kilter and a bit more vulnerable than she liked.

She should’ve known Magnus wouldn’t let that last.

The other woman kept hold of Alec’s hand even after the portal closed behind them. Using that hold, she began to tug Alec down the hall toward the bedroom with a single-minded determination.

Alec raised an eyebrow, yet she still followed. “Magnus?”

“I don’t know about you, but it’s been a long day and I’m _exhausted_ ,” Magnus said. She kept on tugging until like she thought maybe Alec was going to go somewhere else, or be yanked away from her before they could get to the bedroom. As they walked, Magnus snapped her fingers and then gave her hand a quick twist and yank upwards that had heavy-duty wards settling around the loft. Heavier even than the ones that had been there before, and Alec had already been impressed at the strength of those.

The faint urge to poke at them had Alec narrowing her eyes a little at a nearby wall.

She was pulled out of it by Magnus tugging on her hand again. “Come on. Sleep now, magic play later.”

“I was just admiring how much you’ve beefed up your wards.”

Magnus gave her a look that made it clear she knew it’d been more than that. Yet she thankfully didn’t call Alec out on it. “We’ll discuss that later. After sleep. I need about twelve hours of just you, me, and that beautiful bed just up ahead.” Turning her head, she winked at Alec. “At least half of that spent sleeping.”

 _Oh magic_. The shameless words had Alec rolling her eyes, even as the easy way that Magnus said them took a bit of the tension out of Alec’s shoulders and banished it away.

Maybe Alec should’ve protested a little more about Magnus simply dragging her back to bed and assuming they were going to share it together despite only having shared a bed _once_. But honestly, thinking about that night with Magnus, how safe and comfortable she’d felt there, Alec picked up the pace so that they reached the bedroom that much quicker.

Magnus didn’t let go until they were in the bedroom and the door had been shut. Then she pulled her hand free and began shamelessly stripping out of her clothes. Shoes were kicked off underneath the nearby chaise, followed by her coat on top of it and then her shirt. Alec flushed and looked away when Magnus started to shimmy out of her pants.

Focusing on her own clothes, Alec was nowhere near as brazen as Magnus was. She didn’t just start stripping. She did, however, wave a hand over herself, extending a bit of magic and rune energy both to help heal some of the injuries, or at least get them on their way toward healing. Then she added a bit more magic and banished her clothes to her bedroom closet while replacing them with an overlarge t-shirt and fresh underwear.

Alec barely had a chance to finish the switch before she heard a rustle and then a thump. Turning, she looked over at the bed and found herself smiling despite everything.

Magnus had pulled the blankets back on one half of the bed and then simply flopped herself down in it. The pose wasn’t artful, not a deliberate attempt to entice her, though it was definitely enticing. Magnus had clearly tossed aside any sense of modesty when she’d tossed aside her clothes and her bra. She was a long line of subtle muscles, silky smooth looking caramel skin, and a delicate looking pair of light purple satin panties that had Alec wanting to just… lean in and _bite_.

Her face was already buried in her pillow, spiked hair falling loosely off to the side, and one of her arms was tucked up under the pillow. Long legs lazily pushed at the blankets so that they were out of her way.

Alec’s smile grew a little. “Tired?”

“ _Exhausted_.” The hand that wasn’t under the pillow flopped over into the empty half of the bed and pushed half-heartedly at the blankets. “Get your ass in here, Cinderella.”

“Maybe I’m just enjoying the view.”

That got her a little lazy shimmy from Magnus that had Alec laughing. With one last shake of her head, Alec moved the blankets herself and climbed down into bed, flicking her fingers to draw the blankets up and over them. She laid down close and then, after only a small hesitation, snuggled in even closer.

Magnus huffed and rolled herself so that her back was facing Alec. She reached back over her side and made grabby gestures until Alec lifted her arm. Catching Alec’s wrist, Magnus drew her arm over her waist and then snuggled backward until their bodies were spooned together.

“Perfect,” Magnus mumbled. She snapped her fingers and turned the lights off and the curtains closed. “Sleep now. No one’s gonna bother us this time until we’re ready to be bothered.”

The breath Alec drew in smelled like sandalwood and something a bit spicier. Like herbs and incense. She pressed closer until she could nose at some of the thicker bits of Magnus’ hair. “Sounds perfect.”

And really, it did. After the day they’d had it felt perfect to end it in the soft sheets of Magnus’ bed with the even softer skin of this gorgeous goddess pressed up against her. Alec tightened her hold on Magnus, squeezing their fingers together and drawing their hands up so that they rested in front of Magnus’ chest, cocooning her a little more in Alec’s grip. It felt perfect.

Alec closed her eyes and smiled as she drifted to sleep.

* * *

There was no terrifying wakeup call for either one of them this time. No one barging up to the loft demanding entrance, no phones ringing, no Shadowhunters. Alec woke up on her own with her body still closely twined together with Magnus’.

At some point in the night they’d rolled their positions around a little. Alec was flat on her back, one arm lifted up above her head while her other hand was down, resting on Magnus’ arm. Magnus had shifted downward in the night and was laying wrapped around Alec’s waist, her head on Alec’s stomach just high enough to brush against her breast.

All Alec had to do was adjust her hand under her head a little and she could look down just enough to see the mess that was her girlfriend’s hair. The case of bedhead Magnus had going on was one she’d undoubtedly loathe. Alec wanted nothing more than to conjure up her phone and take a picture.

The arm on Alec’s stomach tightened for a second, a quick little spasm, and then went loose again. Then she felt as Magnus turned her head in a little and pressed her nose against Alec’s shirt.

Alec smiled to herself. She let her fingers trail along Magnus’ arm in idle patterns. “Hey.”

“No,” Magnus mumbled against Alec’s stomach. She tightened her arm again and snuggled in even closer. One leg came up and pushed between Alec’s so that there was no way Alec would be able to pull away.

 _This ridiculous woman,_ Alec thought fondly. “You can’t make things not happen just by saying no.”

“Hmph. Shows what _you_ know.”

As if to prove her point, and to further deny the existence of anything that might involve them having to get up, Magnus gave Alec a squeeze and burrowed in even more. She was clearly settling in for a long snuggle. And really, Alec didn’t want to deny her. Nor was there any reason she should. After all, where did they have to go? There were things waiting for them, sure. A whole bunch of shit that Alec knew would find them the instant they stepped out the door. But… that could all wait.

Hell, Alec didn’t even know what time it was at the moment. For all she knew everyone was going to be busy anyway. Spending however long in that cell had thrown off Alec’s sense of time, and the darkness of the bedroom wasn’t helping.

Screw the rest of the world. Alec had a beautiful, mostly-naked woman clinging to her. One who’d seen her at some of her worst moments, some of her ugliest, and was still here holding on to Alec like she was important and desirable. Like hell if Alec was going to do anything to disrupt that.

Alec stopped tracing along Magnus’ arm and rubbed it instead. At the same time, she deliberately relaxed her body and let it sink back down into the comfort of the bed.

The sound Magnus let out at that was almost definitely a purr. “Much better.” In reward, Magnus pressed a kiss against Alec’s stomach.

How long they just lay there holding on to one another and basking in the quiet of the room, Alec had no idea. What she knew was that she felt content. More than that, she felt _happy_. Really, honestly happy, in a way she hadn’t ever been sure she’d be able to. So much had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

In a lot of ways, Alec’s life had changed. All the secrets she’d fought so hard to keep had been forced out into the light. She’d been arrested, her glamours forced down, dragged into the Institute, faced down the Inquisitor, faced her family and friends looking like a _monster_ , faced down _her mother_ , fought a battle against Forsaken, and been pardoned of her crimes.

Oh, there was no doubt in Alec’s mind that she was going to have to face quite a lot more before this was done. Imogen wasn’t going to just let this all go. She’d made that clear. Undoubtedly, their meeting would be interesting. But Alec wasn’t going to have to face it down alone. She had Isabelle and Clary on her side in there, and now, impossibly, she also seemed to have both Jace and Maryse. One person who didn’t know her that well, and one whom Alec had been so sure would want nothing to do with her. Especially not after seeing Alec like _that_.

A nip against her shirt startled Alec out of her thoughts. She jerked slightly and her eyes darted down to find that Magnus had rolled just enough that she could now put her chin on Alec’s stomach. It let those gorgeous cat eyes look right up at Alec’s face. “You were hitting another thought spiral.”

“How do you know that?”

“You were getting more and more tense by the second, darling. Didn’t take a genius to figure out.” Magnus shifted a little, moving her chin off Alec’s stomach and replacing it with both her arms and then laying her chin on _them_. It took a bit of the pressure off of Alec’s stomach while also allowing Magnus to better look up at her. “What’s going on in that pretty head of yours?”

Alec moved her hand out of the way as Magnus shifted, and then settled it down on Magnus’ bare shoulder. For a second she let her fingers just brush against the soft skin there and _looked_.

Magnus didn’t look half asleep anymore. Her eyes were alert, warm, and focused right on Alec. But there were still signs of sleep on her face. A little mark on one cheek where she must’ve been pressed up against a wrinkled bit of Alec’s shirt. Her hair was sticking up even more, too, now that she was upright. She didn’t have any makeup on, no fancy clothes, and Alec was stunned all over again by her beauty.

It was on the tip of Alec’s tongue to say that. The only thing that stopped her was that she knew an avoidance technique when she saw one. And if she recognized it in herself, no doubt Magnus would as well. This wasn’t a conversation Alec needed to ignore. Maybe it was better to have it here, where everything was so soft and warm, and neither one of them were likely to run.

“I was thinking about everything that happened yesterday.” Alec tried to choose her words with care. They didn’t always come easily to her and it could be difficult to get her point across. Thankfully, Magnus never seemed to mind waiting, giving Alec the time to sort through everything and pick the right words. “It was… a lot. More than I expected. And it turned out better than I ever could have imagined. Still, I don’t think I can remember a time I was more terrified.”

“What part had you so scared?” Magnus murmured. The way she watched Alec, the sadness that showed in her beautiful eyes, said that she knew how Alec was going to answer that. She just wanted to make her say it out loud for some reason.

Sighing, Alec slid her hand off Magnus’ shoulder and brought it up to her hair. She fiddled with a strand of it, letting it curl around her finger and then fall away. Despite the curls that Magnus put into her hair all the time, it was surprisingly straight. Alec found it easier to watch her fingers in Magnus’ hair instead of the kindness on her girlfriend’s face. It made it less stressful to voice the words in her head. “That was the first time I’ve ever let anyone see me without a glamour since it manifested.”

“Ever?”

Surprise was clear in Magnus’ tone. Pressing her lips together, Alec nodded. She focused a little more intently on the curl she was building around her finger. How easily it took shape. “I never wanted anyone to see me without it. I didn’t want to…” _I didn’t want to let them see the monster inside._

“Oh, Alec.” So much emotion sat in just those two words. Alec could hear how much Magnus was hurting for her. She’d known her girlfriend wouldn’t like it. Yet Alec _hadn’t_ expected the way that Magnus shifted up a little more, or the hand that she brought up to cup Alec’s cheek and force her to look up at her.

With one arm pressing into the bed near Alec’s am, Magnus tilted herself enough to balance mostly on Alec, her other hand lifting Alec’s chin and bringing their eyes together. In that look was a fierce light tempered by compassion and understanding. Alec couldn’t look away.

“You are so very beautiful, Alexandra. Every single inch of you,” Magnus swore fervently. “It wouldn’t matter to me if your skin was pink, purple, fully black, covered head to toe in runes or scales or _feathers_. You are so stunningly beautiful even without taking your looks into account. The mark you think makes you ugly only makes your already gorgeous body even more so.”

Though the words were something Alec had always wanted to hear, it didn’t make it any easier. Alec shook her head, not quite able to stop herself. “I’m not any of those things, Magnus. I’m just… I’m like this, this patchwork person. Little broken pieces of things shoved together to try and make a whole person, only it’s like… those pieces were put together all wrong.”

“ _Alexandra._ ” The sound of her name on Magnus’ lips was filled with an aching pain that was echoed in the other woman’s eyes. Magnus was looking at her like Alec had struck her. Or stabbed her. Like the pain was so sudden and so unexpected. “Oh, _sayang._ No.” The hand on Alec’s chin shifted, moving up to cup the side of her face, thumb running over her cheekbone. “You’re not some patchwork person, Alexandra. Yes, you’re made up of different parts, different things, but so are the rest of us.”

“It’s not the same,” Alec murmured.

Only, Magnus was already shaking her head, her eyes bright as she pushed up a bit more to better meet Alec’s gaze. Her voice took on an earnest edge. “Yes, it is. Look at me, darling. Do you know how many parts make up who I am? And I’m not talking about personality, or life choices, or things like that. I’m talking about at the very core of me, genetically. I’m an Indonesian woman. I’m part human, and part demon. Technically, those two put together are what make me a warlock, but being a warlock seems to act like a title all on its own.”

Alec felt her throat tighten up with emotion. She couldn’t speak; could only lay there with Magnus hovering over her, drawing in strength from the solid press of her girlfriend all against her.

Magnus’ smile gentled a little. She bent down, brushing a brief, soft kiss over Alec’s lips. “You’re not that different, darling. I know it feels like you are, but you aren’t. You’re a beautiful Latina woman. You’re part human, part demon, and part angel. You’re a warlock, and you’re a shadowhunter.” The hand on Alec’s face shifted up to brush over her temple, pushing back some hair. The look on her face was full of so much _affection_ it stole Alec’s breath away. “Some people might see one part of those more than the other, but here, with me, none of that matters. All I see when I look at you is my amazing Alexandra. A woman I’m happy to call mine.”

What else could Alec do except reach out and take Magnus’ face in hers. The older woman moved easily, sliding up along Alec's body until they could press their lips together. Alec poured everything she could into that kiss. All the care she felt for this gorgeous woman, all the fears she’d carried for so long, and the bone-deep relief at having someone see her and still want her around anyway.

The two broke apart only when they needed to breathe. Magnus hovered there for a second, their lips a breath apart, and just stared at Alec. Whatever she saw there had her smiling. “You are so beautiful, Alexandra.”

“Nowhere near as beautiful as you,” Alec murmured.

Magnus laughed lightly. Then she darted in to press a kiss against Alec's nose. “Agree to disagree.”

In the next moment Magnus had put her hands on either side of Alec's head, bracing herself and pushing up a little. With that gesture, Alec was abruptly reminded that her girlfriend had gone to bed practically naked when they’d gotten home. Now, she was faced with two very attractive reminders of that.

A smirk was curling over Magnus’ lips when Alec’s eyes finally drifted back up to her face. “You are _such_ a breast girl, darling.”

“I know how to appreciate beauty when I see it,” Alec said, fighting back a blush. She had no reason to blush! None at all. If Magnus didn’t want her to look, she wouldn’t be putting herself so blatantly on display right over top of Alec like this, right?

Judging by the way Magnus tossed her hair back and squared her shoulders, forcing her chest forward a little more, the woman was _definitely_ inviting Alec to look while enjoying every second of being admired. Then she winked at Alec. “Flattery will get you everywhere.”

“Is that so?” Alec felt her own smile starting to grow. “Luckily for me, there’s plenty enough to flatter you with.”

Though the territory was new here, the idea of it wasn’t, and Alec was comfortable with Magnus. Far more than she’d ever been with anyone else. She knew Magnus wouldn’t laugh at her for fumbling her way through this. If anything, the older woman was already arching into it as Alec slid her hands down Magnus’ shoulders and her arms, curling her hands in enough as she did that her knuckles brushed against the sides of Magnus’ breasts along the way.

The touch was light, teasing, and yet also a bit testing, trying to make sure they were on the same page.

Luckily for her, Magnus was good at reading plenty of Alec's unspoken cues. She leaned in, and Alec drew in a slightly unsteady breath as Magnus held herself once more over her. She hovered with their lips barely touching and their bodies brushing against one another. The feel of her nipples against the bare skin of Alec's chest had the younger woman wanting to moan.

Magnus smiled down at her in a way that sent shivers down Alec's spine. It was warm, predatory, and full of so much promise. Yet Magnus didn't close that last bit of distance. She didn't press their lips together – she just let them breathe one another's air for a moment, their eyes locked together. “We don’t have to do this,” Magnus murmured against her lips. “I won't be mad if you say no, Alexandra. I just want to check and make sure that this is what you want, too.”

 _Oh_. Alec felt her chest clench a little at those words. When had someone ever shown her this much kindness? This much care? Even now, when they were already naked – at least one of them – and sharing a bed, Magnus was still taking a moment to make sure that this was what Alec wanted. That she was okay with what they were doing.

The affection Alec felt – it was far too early to put the name to it that echoed around inside Alec's heart, no matter how true it felt – had Alec melting down into the sheets. At the same time, she lifted a hand up and slipped it between them so that she could cup Magnus' cheek. “I want this,” Alec reassured her. “I want you.”

When Alec tugged, Magnus finally closed that last little bit of distance and let them sink into one another once again. It wasn't the same fiery passion that they'd shared before, or the simple kisses they exchanged around one another sometimes. This was soft, sweet, and just as warm and lazy as the morning around them. Neither one had anywhere to go. They didn't have anywhere to be for a while yet. It was just the two of them together in the early morning light.

Alec loved kissing; she'd discovered that in her time with Magnus. She loved to kiss and be kissed. Magnus had a way of kissing her that made the whole of the world start to disappear around them.

When Magnus broke their kiss to start trailing her lips over Alec's jaw, the young woman only protested for a moment. Then she tipped her head and let herself get lost in the feeling of Magnus' talented lips against her skin. It was everything she'd wanted, that she'd dreamed about in the privacy of her bedroom late at night.

Though she was the one lying on bottom, it didn't mean that Alec was passive. Her hands trailed up Magnus' arms, tracing the muscles there, feeling the strength that wasn't as visible as her own. Magnus kept her body well cared for and it showed. She was all soft skin and solid muscles in her arms, her shoulders, even down her back. Alec traced over the bumps of the other woman's spine with her nails. Let her fingers dip down into the little dimples at the bottom of Magnus' back. Curl over her hips, using that grip to tug Magnus in closer until their bodies were more firmly pressed together.

“Alexandra.” Magnus’ breathed the word out along Alec's neck. Then she nosed along her throat, pausing to nip along the spot where throat moved to shoulder, only to do it again when Alec shuddered.

In retaliation, Alec tightened her grip on Magnus' hips, letting her nails scratch ever so lightly against the other woman's skin. It got her a soft moan that Magnus pressed into another bite, this time on Alec's collarbone.

They spent who-knew-how long like that. Just lying there together letting their hands and mouths travel over one another. Magnus explored every bit of Alec that was on display.

When Alec lifted one leg to curl it over Magnus' hip, rolling her hips up against her, Magnus reached down with one hand to catch her thigh and hike it higher. Then her hand skated up Alec's side, pushing her shirt slowly up as she went. In her eyes was a clear question – one that Alec answered after only a moment’s hesitation with a flare of magic that banished her shirt, leaving her in just her underwear, the same as Magnus.

The instant heat that flashed through Magnus’ cat eyes soothed down the sharper edge of Alec's nerves. As did the low “ _Beautiful_ ” that the other woman breathed out.

Magnus didn’t let herself get derailed too much by Alec's shirt vanishing. If anything, it made her bolder, her hand moving further up Alec's stomach until she could cup Alec's breast in her palm. The touch had Alec dropping her head back, and she let out a moan when Magnus' thumb rubbed over her nipple. “ _Magnus_.”

“I love how you say my name.” Bending her head, Magnus nosed up Alec's throat, nipping lightly at the skin there while her thumb pressed in even firmer, teasing against Alec’s nipple until it was hard. “You sound so beautiful when you say it all the time. But I think I like hearing it like this even more. Low, raspy, a bit breathy. You're gorgeous, Cinderella.”

What else could Alec do but moan out her name again, and then even louder when Magnus ducked her head and replaced her thumb with her lips. She nipped and teased with the kind of skill that Alec was ready to thank the angel for.

Needing to do something, Alec slid her hands up Magnus' back until she could thread them in the other woman's hair. The touch had Magnus breaking free, her mouth trailing across the open space between Alec's breasts. “Don't pull,” she warned just before she took Alec's other nipple into her mouth.

It took effort to make sure that Alec heeded her warning. She didn't pull, didn't let herself tug, though her nails might've dug in a little when Magnus sucked sharply on her nipple and then bit. At the same time, a low keen tore its way up Alec's throat. Her body arched up almost against her will. “Oh, _oh_! Magnus!”

Magnus chuckled against her, moving off her nipple to bite into the meat of her breast, teeth pressing in harder when Alec only moaned louder at the contact. Smirking, Magnus broke the bite to briefly lick over it. “Mm. You like that.” The way she nipped again, not quite as hard as the last bite, made it clear what she was talking about.

All Alec could do was moan in response.

Magnus only took that as encouragement to keep on biting and teasing her way across Alec's body. Later, Alec would look at herself and think that it looked like she’d been mauled. At the time, every press of teeth, every sharp bite and soothing kiss that followed, only stoked her passion higher and higher. Magnus was driving her out of her mind. Not just in what she was doing, but in the care that she took while doing it, the way she so very clearly checked in on Alec throughout it all, making sure that she was comfortable with everything.

It was such a heady thing. For the first time in her life Alec was with a girl who wasn’t intimidated by her size, but who also didn’t seem to see it as some sort of sign that Alec was secretly a dominatrix. A lot of girls took Alec for a leather mama in her bike gear. Or they’d see her height, see her muscles, and just expect Alec to take charge. Take care of them.

Magnus didn’t do that in any part of their relationship. Not all the time, at least. She let Alec care for her, yes, but she didn’t let her be the only one in their relationship that did it. She took care of Alec in return. There were no expectations that one or the other do everything. They took turns taking care of each other in a give and take that only made Alec fall all the harder.

This morning, Magnus seemed very determined to take care of Alec in the best of ways. Her mouth was just the right kind of rough while her hands stroked soothingly over all those places where her teeth had left marks.

When Magnus tugged on Alec’s underwear, there was only a brief moment of hesitation as old fears and insecurities tried to slip in and steal the beauty of this moment from them. But then Alec opened her eyes and looked down the length of her body at the goddess kneeling between her legs. Magnus was unashamedly naked, her own underwear seemingly vanished at some point. She had no trouble sitting there, that beautiful body of hers so proudly on display, looking at Alec in a way that had Alec finally understanding what Clary meant by the term ‘bedroom eyes.’

Yet there was a softness there, too. One that spoke of the kind of care no one had ever shown Alec. Seeing it, feeling the warmth of it licking against her skin in little teases of magic, it was suddenly so much easier to nod, to let Magnus tug her underwear off until she was laying there just as bare as her girlfriend was.

Magnus took a moment to just sit back and look Alec over. The heat in that look had Alec squirming a little bit, which only had Magnus' gaze darkening even more.

A dangerous grin curled over Magnus' lips. “You are an absolute vision, Alexandra, and I'd really, really like to devour every single inch of you.” Her hands settled low on Alec's thighs, slowly sliding up, pushing her legs a little further apart as she went. Her eyes never once left Alec's face. “Would you like that, Cinderella? Hm? Would you let me touch you, let me taste you?”

Those hands slid even higher, going over the muscles of Alec’s thighs and up higher still, until they were ghosting past the place that no one else save Alec had ever touched. There was just the barest brush of thumbs running over her. Yet Alec arched into it as if Magnus had slid her whole hand there.

When it became clear that Magnus wasn't going to move, wasn't going to do _anything_ without Alec's answer, the younger woman managed to gasp out a low “Yes, please” that had magic sparking in the back of Magnus' eyes.

Those two words were all it took for Magnus to start moving. She slipped down onto her belly on the bed, only she didn't go where Alec had expected her to. Instead, she drew Alec's legs up, pushing her heels into the bed, and started at her ankle.

Magnus explored her legs the same way she'd explored every other part of Alec so far. With lips, tongue, teeth, and the kind of reverence that Alec didn't think she deserved yet soaked up like water in the desert. Her hands were clenched in the sheets on either side of her in an effort to keep some sort of control. Alec’s body was aching, alive in ways she hadn't known were possible. It was like every nerve ending in her body was tied to the path of Magnus' mouth up her calf, over and behind her knee, and then up her thighs.

When Magnus broke away to switch to the other leg and repeat the whole process all over again, Alec couldn’t help but sob. “ _Magnus_!”

Magnus bit a smirk into Alec's thigh. The muscle there trembled underneath the touch. “Don't worry,” Magnus murmured, her mouth moving a little higher. “I've got you, Princess. Gonna make you feel so good for me.”

There was no chance for Alec to speak up and say anything about that, or to protest the new nickname, because Magnus was moving again, finally going higher, and everything in Alec's brain cut off at the first swipe of a warm tongue across swollen lips. She let out a sharp cry, only to bite her lip to try and stop it.

Nails scratched their way down her thighs to her knees. When Alec looked down, burning cat eyes were watching her. “Don't muffle yourself. I want to hear you,” Magnus said firmly.

Alec shivered under the heat of those words.

Twisting her hands, Magnus caught Alec behind her knees and lifted her legs, spreading her even more until there was a stretched feeling without the burn that would come from too much. Alec reveled in the sensation of it. Who knew she'd love being splayed open like this? Laid out for Magnus to see.

When Magnus leaned back in, that wicked tongue once more coming out for a taste, the both of them moaned together.

Alec's hands somehow found their way back to Magnus’ hair. She just barely remembered not to pull. Instead, her nails scratched lightly at her girlfriend’s scalp. When Alec felt Magnus shudder and press in even closer, she did it again.

Nothing Alec had ever heard could’ve prepared her for this feeling. It was unlike anything she’d ever known. Magnus did things that drew sounds from her that Alec hadn’t even known she was capable of making.

With each bit of pleasure, magic licked its way through Alec's blood. She felt it on her skin, the spark of it dancing there out of her control, brushing against the bits of Magnus’ magic that were teasing over her. When the two connected, Alec and Magnus both moaned, long and loud.

Magnus had to turn her face away from Alec for a moment to press against her cheek against Alec's thigh. “ _Magic_ , Alexandra…”

“What…” Their magic sparked again, and Alec groaned, her hips rolling as she felt the wave of it run through her. “ _Oh,_ what is _that_?”

Magnus bit down on Alec's thigh, dragging Alec's moan into a sharp cry. That sound seemed to snap what control Magnus had. The instant the sound left Alec’s lips, Magnus was moving. Before Alec could blink, her girlfriend was stretched out over top of her, their bodies pressed together, and one of Magnus’ thighs shoved between her legs. Alec sucked in a breath only to have it stolen away when Magnus kissed her, hard and hot and fast.

Firm hands slid up over Alec's arms, up to her head where they fisted in her hair, holding her in place as Magnus rolled her hips along Alec's thigh and pushed her own leg up. Alec did the only thing she could and grabbed on to Magnus’ shoulders, trying to anchor herself against the storm that had just crashed over her.

Magnus broke their kiss, gasping into Alec's mouth. “ _That_ ,” she rasped, tugging on Alec's hair at the same time that she nipped at her bottom lip. “Is your magic. Our magic. It feels how good you feel and wants to share it. _Lilith_ , Alexandra, you feel so fucking good.”

The sound of Magnus cursing in that low, raspy voice _did something_ to Alec. Her magic flashed out in response, catching with Magnus’ and lighting up the air around them like fireworks. Everywhere the sparks fell was like a drop of pleasure buzzing over her skin.

Alec was moving without thinking. It was like they’d created some big feedback loop. The more pleasure they felt, the more their magic let it loose into the room around them, while the more it fell on them the more pleasure they felt. It built like a band of tight heat down low in Alec's stomach. Alec could feel it stretching and stretching with each roll of her hips, each press of Magnus’ thigh, each slick slide of Magnus against Alec’s thigh. Alec felt filthy and _wet_ and like her skin was on fire.

Then Magnus bent to lick at her neck before she pressed in and _bit_ , and that band in Alec's stomach snapped. She arched her back with a sharp cry and lost any semblance of control over her magic. It flashed out into the room around her in a wave of white-blue.

Through the buzzing in her ears she heard Magnus cry, felt her give a few more sharp thrusts, and then bright blue magic joined in with hers, and Alec's whole body twitched as she came a _second time_.

It felt like it lasted for ages, until Alec collapsed down into the bed, her body exhausted and trembling from the force of it all. Alec huffed a little as Magnus fell on her. She shifted just enough to make it more comfortable, sliding the other woman a bit off to the side. That was about all she had the energy for, though.

As they lay there, Alec let her gaze drift around the bedroom, and for the first time she took in the results of what their magic had done.

Pictures were crooked on the walls. One of the curtains was hanging half off the bar, and the other was a rather lurid shade of green. Part of the room looked like someone had exploded a glitter bomb in it. And… hadn’t the sheets been a different color before? Alec was pretty sure they hadn’t been _blue_.

Some of the glitter looked like it’d fallen down on them. Alec could see a sheen of it on Magnus’ skin, which only made it glow all the more. She lifted one hand to reach out and brush a bit of it away, a smile on her lips, only to freeze when she caught sight of her hand. Her glittery, very _black_ hand.

Alec didn’t even get a chance to draw it back before Magnus’ hand caught hers. Long, beautiful fingers curled around Alec's wrist. The sight of it hit the younger woman like a fist to the gut. Any of the pleasure-high Alec had been riding melted away underneath this… this _nauseous_ feeling that was rising in her stomach.

She and Magnus were always a contrast when they were put together. Sometimes Alec liked to look at it. To see her pale, cool skin against the darker, warmer colors of Magnus’. _Silver and gold_. But, this?

“Alexandra.” Magnus pushed herself up, keeping hold of Alec's wrist as she did. She didn’t allow Alec to pull away. Her eyes, so hazy and beautiful before, had gone tight with worry.

Alec tugged on her wrist, grateful when Magnus finally let go of it. She didn’t give the older woman time to say anything on it. Before Magnus could, Alec cut her off with a sharp, “Don’t.”

“Darling…”

“Don’t, Magnus.” Alec drew in a deep breath and slowly, carefully, pulled her glamour back over herself. She very deliberately didn’t focus on her skin until she knew it was back to normal. Only then, only when she felt like _herself_ again, did Alec continue to speak. “I get that… that you like that, or whatever. I don’t _understand_ it, but I get it. I just, I’m not…”

“You’re not there yet,” Magnus said softly.

Alec swallowed down the lump in her throat and nodded. Her eyes drifted up to stare at the glittery ceiling above them. “I’m not, I’m not going to freak out when it happens. Or… I’ll try not to. But I need you to just… not make a big deal out of it? Please?” If Magnus didn’t make a big deal out of it, maybe Alec could get away with the same thing. She wasn’t sure she was ever going to be as comfortable with her mark as other warlocks that she’d seen. But she just, she couldn’t have it be a big deal. Especially not after yesterday.

She felt it as Magnus once more shifted alongside her. Her girlfriend leaned in and captured her lips in a soft kiss that did more to soothe Alec's frayed nerves than anything else.

Silently, the two lay down together, and Alec let herself relax once more into the bed and her girlfriend’s hold. She wasn’t okay with things, and she wasn’t sure how long it would be before she became comfortable with her mark, but that wasn’t what she wanted to think about right now. Right now, she wanted to hold Magnus close and bask in what was left of the warm afterglow.

Everything else could wait till later.


End file.
